Electric cable reel



Sept. 30, 1952 s. c. MOON ELECTRIC CABL -E REEL Filed Dec. 29, 1948 0mm wc E/ in Patented Sept. 30, 1952 2,612,569 OFFICE SterlingC. Moon, Worthington, Ohio, assignor to The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, a corpov ration of Ohio Application December 29, 1948 Serial No.67,975

This invention relates to an electric cable reel, and an object of the invention is .to pro.vide an improved cable reel wherein the brushes and collector rings are held in predetermined fixed positions to insure continuous satisfactory p-' position on the drum of thecable reel by having spaced peripheral contacts therewith.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved cable reel assembly in whichthere is a hollow drum mounted to rotate about the axis of a supporting shaft and in which there is mounted spaced conductor rings and brush means, one upon said shaft and the other upon said drum, the mounting means for the one of them that is associated with said drum being a ring having direct bearing centering contact at least at spaced points of its periphery with the interior of said cable drum.

Other objects of the invention will appear hereinafter, the novel features and combinations being set forth in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevational view through the axis of the cable reel; with parts broken away; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the cable reel in a plane perpendicular to its axis, showing particularly a brush supporting collector mechanism.

The cable reel includes a drum .lll formed of a generally cylindrical hollow body H and removable outwardly extending disc shaped end flanges I2 and [3 adjacent the opposite ends of said cylinder ll. Formed integral with the main cylinder H and extending from the righthand side, as viewed in Fig. 1 of the drawings, and within said cylinder -l I, there is a smaller concentric cylinder 14 which forms an integral part of the body H. The small diameter cylinder M extends inwardly from the right-hand edge of the large cylinder H to approximately the axial center thereof, or, in other words, substantially to a plane passing through the center of the drum ill and perpendicular to the axis of cylinders II and l4.

The left-hand end of the cylinder body H,

as viewed in Fig. 1, is closed by a removable cap [5 to which access is had to the interior,

of said body II. The cylinder II together with the cap IS, in cooperation with the cylinder M and other parts hereinafter described, provides a substantially totally enclosing casing or hensing for the conductor ringa'brushes and the like, as hereinafter described.

1 Claim. (Cl. 191-122) The drum It is mounted for rotation on a cantilever type bracket, generally designated 16, said bracket is being hollow to provide a conduit and including a base [1 adapted to be bolted or otherwise attached to a supporting frame, such as the frame of a shuttle car, truck, loader or mining machine, or any other vehicle which may require an electric cable reel.

Formed integral with the base I! is a hollow post I 8 which supports the drum II! by means of a pair of axially spaced anti-friction bearings I9 which are interposed between the post [8 and the cylinder l l of drum' IDL- One of the closer to that end of the drum in at 'whi chit is supported by the other bearing I91; In other words, the drum in is supported by the cantilever post It or bracket 16' by spaced bearings I9, both of which are to one sideof a plane passing through the center of said drum .l0 and cylinder H and perpendicular to the'axis' thereof about which is rotates.

The'cylinder H is .removably mountedion the post l8 by means ofma threaded lockring 20 which threads on the free end of the integral post [.8 and holds the outer bearing [9 iniplace.

Forming an extension of the cantilever support for postllt is a removable hollow sleeve 2| which is threaded into the outerend of said post [8 and provides a removable extension thereof. For some purposes the posts [-8 and'2l therefore may be considered as a single cantileverpost unit,

Mounted upon. the sleeve 21 is a collector ring unit 22 which includes a pairof spaced collector rings 23 and 24 whichare mounted upon spaced blocks or rings of insulating material and which are spaced apart by interposed rings of insulat ing materiaL'all the parts being clamped together by a pair of insulated through bolts 25. Each of the collectorrings 2-3 and 24 is provided with an individual terminal rod 26, theterminal rod 26 for the ring '24 being shown in detail in ,Fig, -1

of the drawings. The terminal rod for ring 23 will, of course, be shorter, since illJLlS'ljIl'Q-l forward collector ring. The complete collector ring unit 22 is keyed to the sleeve 2| and is removably' held thereon aeainst'axial nq ement'b aspen rin This, of course, leaves one side of the drum entirely free of bearings and the like, making possible the provision of a simple cap I9 through which access may be had to the interior of the drumand to all the parts thereof.

The brush supports for the brushes which cooperate with the two collector rings 23' and '24 are part of a brush collecting unit 30 which is rigidly attached to the interior hollow cylindrical body portion of the drum II]. This brush collecting unit 30 includes a pair of metal brush collector ring assemblies 3 I, one of which is seen in detail by reference to Fig. 2 of the drawings. These spaced ring assemblies 3| are rigidly attached to spaced rings 32 of insulating material which are spaced apart by a pair of insulating spacers, one of which is seen at. 33, which are rigidly mounted with other elements of the complete unit 38 on theinterior of the body .II by a pair of spaced clamping bolts 34.

Each of the brush collector ring assemblies 3! includes a pair of diametrically spaced brushes 35 having standard type pigtails by which they are connected .to metallic or conducting rings of the assemblies 3 I, each of said rings in turn being connected to a conductor leading to a clamping block 36 within the cylinder I l which receives the end of a cable 31 which is adapted to be wound on the reel It in a well known manner. Each of the brushes is provided with a spring pressed rocker arm 38 which resiliently urges the brush 35 into contacting relation with one of the collector rings 23 and 24.

Of particular importance, insofar as the mounting of the brush collector ring assembly 3! is concerned is the fact that at a plurality of spaces around the peripheries of the rings 32, said rings have close bearing contact or a close fit with arcuate machined surfaces on the interior of cylinder II, the center of which arcuate surface is concentric with the center of the ring assemblies 3| and the center of the collector rings 23 and 24 which, of course, is the axis of the cantilever post or bracket l6 and is the axis about which the drum l rotates. In other words, the interior of the drum II is machined so that at least at spaced points there are concentric arcs, the center of which is the axis of rotation of the drum I0 and the axis of the collector rings 23 and 24. The brush collector ringassembly then has a close contacting fit with these arcuate surfaces so that it is impossible for the brush ring assemblies 3| to move toward and from the axis of the drum l0.

It has been found in practice that if the brush collector assemblies are mounted on cantilevers or simply carried on bolts in the drum and are not rigidly mounted therein, as above described, they become out of round in operation or out of alignment with the collector rings and thus their life is shortened.

It is to be noted that the cable reel assembly incorporates a number of important characteristics. First of all, the drum is mounted on the supporting bracket [6 in cantilever. The mounting is all within the lateral confines of the drum,

being provided by the two spaced bearings it which are within said drum ID. This mounting is all to one side of a central plane through the drum l0 perpendicular to its axis of rotation and is toward the base of the cantilever bracket or post I6. The brush and collector ring assemblies are also entirely within the lateral confines of the drum H and they are both largely, if not entirely, on the outer side of the the open end of the cylinder H which is closed by the removable cap IS. The collector ring mechanism is mounted on the cantilever bracket It at its extreme outer end, as provided by the removable sleeve extension 2! thereof. The brush collector mechanism is rigidly mounted in the drum II and the peripheries of one or both of the rings 32 have direct bearing contact at spaced points with the interior arcuate machined surfaces of said drum I'I.

Rotation of the drum I0 is efiectcd by sprocket means 39 which are clamped externally on one side of the drum H and surround the post l8. Said sprocket means .39 also provides control for .the usual cable guide associated with the cable reel drum [0. 7

Obviously those skilled in the art may make various changes in the details and arrangement of parts without departing fromthe spirit and scopeof the invention as'defined by the claim .hereto appended, and applicant therefore wishes not to be restricted to the precise construction herein disclosed.

Having thus described and shown an embodiment of the invention, what it is desired to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

An electric cable reel including a supporting bracket having an arm supported only at one end providing a hollow cantilever support, a cable drum having a generally hollow enclosing cylindrical portion with outwardly extending end flanges and adapted to receive a coiled cable,

spaced apart bearing means carried at axially spaced positions on said cantilever and supporting said cable drum for rotation on said cantilever arm, said bearing means being located entirely on one side of a plane through the center of said cylinder perpendicular to its axis and constituting the supporting bearing means for said drum, said cantilever arm having a free end portion extending beyond said bearing means and entirely within the enclosure of said cylindrical portion of said cable drum, insulating means mounting spaced stationary conductor rings on said'free end of said arm, cable means extending through said hollow cantilever support and connected to said stationary conductor rings, spaced brushes carried within said cylindrical portion of. said cable drum and having sliding contact with said stationary conductor; rings, and-ring insulating means supporting said brushes, said ring means having direct bearing centering contact at spaced points of its periphery with the interior of said cylindrical portion of said cabledrum.

STERLING C. MOON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are'of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Germany Oct. 29, 1924 

